USA > Iowa > Boone County > History of Boone County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 25
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Pleasant Chitwood took up a claim in this township in 1848. He hired Thomas Sparks to break some prairie for him in the spring.of 1848. The river had to be crossed to get to his claim. He under- took to move his family across the river, which had to be done by forcing the team to swim the river and by taking the family and household goods across in a small boat. In the attempt to force a span of oxen into the stream, Mr. Chitwood was accidentally thrown into the stream with them. The river was bank full and Mr. Chit- wood could not swim. He clung to the ox yoke, and team and man were carried down the river. Finally they reached the top of a tree which had fallen into the water and taking hold of the branches he succeeded in reaching the dry land. Just then he saw his wife going down the river in a boat, intending to use her best efforts to save her husband. Almost frantic at the sight, Mr. Chitwood seized a long pole and ran along the bank of the river to a place where the channel came near the bank. There he succeeded in reaching the boat with the pole and brought it with its precious cargo to the shore. There was great rejoicing when they realized that both were saved. The team was drowned. The family postponed the time of crossing the river until the water sunk to a level that permitted them to cross in safety. Thomas Sparks, who was present at the time, related this incident at an old settlers' meeting in Boonesboro some years before his death. He tried to persuade Mrs. Chitwood not to go into the river with the boat but she would not listen.
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After this incident both Mr. Sparks and Mr. Chitwood served as county officers, the former as county surveyor and the latter as sheriff.
Bluff Creek, which rises near the north line of the township, ex- tends through it from north to south.
There are six school districts and six good schoolhouses in Pilot Mound Township. School is taught eight months in the year. Good teachers are employed and the schools are in a prosperous condition, These school districts and schoolhouses speak well for the intelligence and the progress of the people of the township.
This township has fine drainage facilities and the soil is very fertile. The farmers are up-to-date, energetic and industrious. They have splendid farms, beautiful and inviting homes and such things as make a country prosperous and valuable.
Among the number who were soldiers in the Civil war were W. M. Petty, Robert C. Petty, A. Shaffer, William Tomlinson, H. Abercrombie. At the time of the Civil war Pilot Mound Township had but a small population. The township had been organized less than three years at the commencement of the war.
According to the census of 1910 the population of Pilot Mound Township, exclusive of Pilot Mound Town, was 498.
The present officers of the township are : Trustees, D. W. Crouch, William Larson and J. O. Youngren; assessor, J. F. Butoph ; clerk, A. J. Wolf; justices of the peace, J. C. Peterson and M. D. Schoff- stall; constables, R. J. Hunt, William Stark.
There are two railroads within the borders of Pilot Mound Township. One of these is the Minneapolis & St. Louis, which runs through the township from north to south, and the other is the Inter- urban, or Newton & Northwestern, which runs through the south part of it, crossing the Minneapolis & St. Louis two miles south of the Town of Pilot Mound. This crossing is called Fraser Junction.
As a rule the people of Pilot Mound Township have been as peaceable and law-abiding as those of any other township in the county. But there is an assumed story which comes down to us from the early times that a band of horse thieves and counterfeiters had headquarters among the hills along the river between Center- ville, in Yell Township, and the center line of Pilot Mound Town- ship. Much has been said and written about this headquarters of the band of thieves, but nothing of a definite character has yet been brought to light. No one has been able to give the exact location of the habitation of these bold, bad men, nor to prove that any stolen
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horses were ever kept hidden among the hills of that region of the country. Nor have the tools or instruments used in the manufacture of counterfeit money ever been found there. The story is simply a fabrication. It seems to be a well established fact that there was the head of a family in that part at one time in the habit of concealing guilty men and stolen horses in his barn, but when this fact became known to the citizens they gave him notice to leave the country by the expiration of a certain time, and at the termination of that period he had taken his departure. From this must have originated the story above referred to and which had been published in some lead- ing papers of the state.
The postoffice at Pilot Mound is now the only one in the township. There was a postoffice in the north end of the township, at Casady's Corner, but it has been discontinued since the people in that part have been supplied by the rural delivery lines.
There is an old settlers' association in Pilot Mound Township which has been holding annual meetings. One of the places of meeting is Owen's Grove, in section 4, near the Webster County line. It is a pleasant place for holding meetings.
Mr. Owen found the skeleton of a buffalo in the bed of a small creek on his farm a few years ago. He still has the bones of the animal in his possession.
Pilot Mound Township is connected with Dodge Township by two county bridges that span the Des Moines River. One thing that makes this township more historic than the other townships of the county is the fact that it contains the great battleground where the Sac and Fox Indians under Keokuk gained a great victory over the Sioux, under Wamsapasia. The many human bones found there prove that a battle was actually fought.
The large pond or lake in sections 6 and 7, township 85, range 27, has, attracted much attention for many years. The old Dragoon trail which trended north from Fort Des Moines at the Raccoon Fork, passed a short distance east of this body of marsh land and water. The Dragoons afterward made mention of it. At that time (from 1843 to 1845), it was seven miles long and from one to three miles wide. The outline given of it, on a map of the county, pub- lished by the Union Historical Company, in 1879, show that it was six miles long and three miles wide across the center at that date. Its complete drainage and cultivation will soon be accomplished.
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PILOT MOUND
The Town of Pilot Mound was laid out September 8, 1881. There had been a postoffice established there for a number of years before the town was laid out, which was named Pilot Mound, so when the town was laid out it was very appropriate to name it Pilot Mound also. Here are four different things having the same name. First the big upheaval of earth which towers above the surrounding country was very appropriately named Pilot Mound. When the township was laid out the name was applied to it. So with the post- office and town. Here are a combination of names the like of which cannot be elsewhere found in the state.
Pilot Mound has two general stores, one drug store, one restaurant, two garages, one barber shop, one harness shop, two grain elevators, one lumber yard, one blacksmith shop and a bank. The latter is the Pilot Mound Savings Bank, of which S. L. Moore is president and A. M. Kenyon is cashier. The latter is a brother of Senator W. S. Kenyon, one of the noted men of the nation.
The town has a weekly newspaper, which is a true reflector of the town and the country around it. The paper is named the Pilot Mound Monitor, its present editor being J. C. Burton. It is now rounding out its sixteenth year. The Pilot Mound Monitor was established in October, 1898, its founder and first editor being August Samuelson. He had only gotten fairly started on his editorial career when he sold the paper and printing outfit to A. J. Wolf. The paper was one year old when Mr. Wolf took charge, and he con- tinued in the editorial chair, giving his patrons a good local paper until 1905, when he sold the plant and fixtures to George Kick. The latter continued to give the readers of the Monitor a good home paper for about eight years. In that time he made many friends and doubtless, some enemies, as is usually the case. In 1913 he sold the Monitor to J. C. Burton, the present editor and proprietor. Mr. Burton is a genial and accommodating gentleman, who has improved the office by adding many new fixtures to it. Mr. Burton is himself a practical printer and will no doubt prosper in his business.
Pilot Mound has a school building with two departments. The present enrollment is about one hundred. There were ten graduates at the close of the last term. The schools are in good condition. The principal for the term of 1914 is E. E. Bentley.
There is an Odd Fellows lodge of fifty members. The present officers are : Elmer Germer, N. G .; E. E. Durrel, secretary. There
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is also a Masonic lodge of thirty members. The officers are: W. M., A. S. Kirkman; secretary, E. E. Bentley.
The Woodmen's lodge has thirty-five members. A. J. Wolf is chief councilman, and D. C. Wiley, clerk.
Pilot Mound has four churches and four church buildings, as follows: Methodist Episcopal, Swedish Mission, Adventist and Bap- tist. It is said that each of these churches has a good working congregation and that each has a good Sunday school.
Drs. W. G. Laidley and R. S. Shame are the practicing physicians here. There are also two dentists and one specialist located here.
According to the census of 1910 Pilot Mound had a population of 347. The state census to be taken next year may increase the population to 500.
The present city officers are as follows: Mayor, Arthur Aiban; clerk, L. C. Carlson ; councilmen, George Carlson, E. E. Bentley, Elmer Cartwright, William Forney, O. W. Tornell.
There are no coal mines in operation in Pilot Mound Township, but there is no doubt but that much of the land in the township is underlaid with valuable beds of coal which some time will be mined. There are also vast beds of gravel which will in time be used.
Among those who were honored with county offices and who were citizens of Pilot Mound Township were Peter Shaffer, Pleasant Chitwood, George E. Jones and B. P. Holst.
CHAPTER XXII
MARCY TOWNSHIP
The south one-third of the present township of Marcy was origin- ally contained in Pleasant Township and the north two-thirds in Boone Township. These divisions continued from August 6, 1849, to March 8, 1852. At the last named date Berry Township was created, established and named by S. B. McCall, who was elected . county judge at the August election in 1851. The south two-thirds of the present township of Marcy was contained in Berry Township, while the north one-third still made up a part of Boone Township. Under these divisions the county government continued, so far as it related to the present Township of Marcy, until the 5th of April, 1858. On that date Marcy Township was organized and named by Judge McCall. The township as laid out at that date contained all of the territory in its present boundaries and all of the present Township of Beaver and the south tier of sections of the present Township of Yell. Marcy Township remained within the boundaries given it by Judge McCall from April 5, 1858, to January, 1871, at which date it was reduced to its present boundaries. The township contains about seven sections more than a congressional township. This is caused by the incline of the river to the east, taking the seven sections just mentioned off the southwest corner of Worth Township, thus making Marcy rank among the large townships of the county. In the early settlement the township was well supplied with timber. There were about six sections along the Des Moines River which were entirely covered with heavy and valuable timber. Phillip Livingston, of Moingona, recently gave out the information that the piles used in the construction of the first bridge built across the Missouri River between the cities of Omaha and Council Bluffs were cut off of the timber land of Marcy Township and shipped over the Northwestern Railroad to the Missouri River. Mr. Livingston was at that time station agent at Moingona and he bought the piles and shipped them. Thousands of railroad ties and thousands of Vol. 1-18
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cords of wood were taken from these lands and shipped to other parts. The result of this is that native timber in Marcy is scarce compared with what it once was.
Coal has been found in large quantities in Marcy. The upper veins in the north part of the township have to some extent been worked out and abandoned but those in the south part have not yet been developed. The gravel beds of central and south Marcy are still undeveloped. At some time in the future these coal fields and gravel beds will be worked and utilized.
South of Moingona, on section 18, are nine small mounds which have attracted attention from the early settlement of the township. These mounds are more fully mentioned in the article in another part of this work under the heading of The Prehistoric Race. Marcy has but few creeks and mention of these will be found in another article in this work. The soil of this township is very fertile and this places it among the chief agricultural townships of the county. The northeast corner of Marcy Township is a very historic part of the county. Years before any settlement in the county was made the remains of a camp of French and Indians-half-breeds-were discovered here on the beautiful bottom land by the carly explorers of the county. Among those who became interested in the story of the half-breed Indian village was Col. L. W. Babbitt. In the fall of 1843 he and a company of hunters and trappers came to this beautiful bottom on a hunting expedition. It was claimed by some that a part of his reason for coming here was to investigate the remains of the camp, or village, above mentioned, as well as to hunt and trap. It is also claimed that he found here some tools and utensils used for various purposes, which are used by a more civilized people than the Indians. Colonel Babbitt could not have come here at the date mentioned on a hunting and trapping expedition without a permit from Captain Allen, who at that time was the chief government officer at Fort Des Moines. This he must have done, for Colonel Babbitt was above being an intruder. He remained here from the fall of 1843 to the spring of 1844. Just how many relics he collected from the ruins of the half-breed village is not known, but it is claimed that he took to the markets a good amount of furs, pelts and venison hams. Shortly after the date of this hunting and trap- ping tour, Colonel Babbitt located at Burlington, where he became a leading citizen of that city and did much in aid of its improvement. Late in the 'sos he moved to Council Bluffs and there became the editor of the Council Bluffs Bugle-a democratic newspaper-which
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was an influential journal of Western lowa. The little log house which he built in the beautiful bottom to shelter in during his stay, remained there until the spring of 1851. In the great freshet of that year Colonel Babbitt's hunting shanty was carried away. Al- though Colonel Babbitt was the first one to build a house in the county, he had no intention of becoming a permanent settler.
The first entry of land in Marcy Township was made by Michael Gregg, in April, 1849. At that date he became the owner of the southeast quarter of section 30, township 82, range 26. The second entry was made by P. F. Repp, in May, 1849, by which he became the owner of the southeast quarter of section 32, township 82, range 26. The third entry was made December, 1849, by J. C. Culbertson, who at that date became the owner of the southwest quarter and the north half of the southeast quarter of section 32, township 82, range 26.
The first settler in Marcy Township was David Noah. He settled on the beautiful bottom in section 36, township 84, range 27, in 1848. After this settlement was made the fertile region of bottom land on which Colonel Babbitt located his hunting camp in the fall of 1843 was called Noah's Bottom. The records show that David Noah, the first settler of Marcy Township, voted at the first election in 1849 and that he was the plaintiff in a law suit at the first term of the District Court in 1851. In the spring of 1852 he moved to Oregon.
In 1849 Col. John Rose settled on this rather famous bottom and he lived there the remainder of his life. In a few years after locating here the name was changed to Rose's Bottom and that name still applies to it. Col. John Rose was the first justice of the peace in Marcy Township. The names of David Noah and James Turner appear in the list of voters in 1849.
W. H. C. Jenkins, William Sparks, Gordon Allen, Thomas, James and Levi Shaw, James and William Canfield, David and John Sparks, Elisha Bennett, Amos Rose, James and Joshua Stumbo, Jesse Williams, William P. Berry, Zachariah McCall, John A. Crawley, Willis Holoway were among the first settlers of the township.
Marcy Township has three town plats on file as shown by the records at the county seat. The first of these was Quincy, which was laid out by Jerome Gordon and Thomas Shaw, in section 14. It was laid out November 2, 1854, being the first town platted on the west side of the river. This town failed to build up as its proprietors had hoped. There is a Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest one
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in the township, standing on the site of Quincy and also a school- house. For about three years Doctor Grinnell practiced medicine at Quincy and built up a good practice. This is all the headway it ever made toward being a town.
MOINGONA
The town which ranked the highest in importance of any which the township has had in its borders is Moingona. It was a product of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad and of the coal mines in its immediate vicinity. It was laid out July 6, 1866, and a railway station was established there. It put on a quick growth and in a short time became a place of considerable importance. Much coal was mined ard shipped from Moingona. It had a numerous mining population and for a while had a population of about one thousand. For a number of years Moingona was incorporated and maintained a city government. The town is located on section 12, township 83, range 27. It has three churches- Swedish Lutheran, Swedish Mis- sion and Presbyterian. It also has maintained a good school building and a number of fairly good business houses. When the coal veins were worked out there and the railroad straightened its line and crossed the river four miles above Moingona, the time of its pros- perity came to a close, its business greatly declined and the town found it necessary to surrender its charter. The Presbyterian Church at that place has been discontinued and the building has recently been purchased by Reverend Crawford, of Boone. The road bed, which for many years ran around by Moingona, is still kept in repair and two trains run over this road each day. Mr. Livingston claims that Moingona still has a population of 300.
COAL VALLEY
Coal Valley was the third of the towns platted in Marcy Town- ship. It was laid out by Amos Elliott, in September, 1867, and is located on section 2, township 83, range 27. It was intended to be a miners' town only and while the supply of coal lasted it was a place of considerable activity. Coal in abundance was for several years mined and shipped from Coal Valley. But when the mines were worked out the miners moved to other places to obtain work and the place ceased to be a town of business interest. Very few people live there now, but it is nearer the geographical center of the county than any town within its borders.
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Besides the three churches in Moingona and the one at Quincy already spoken of, there are three other churches in Marcy Township. One of these is a Freewill Baptist denomination, which has a brick building, situated in the southeast corner of Section 36, Township 83, Range 27. There is also a Methodist Episcopal Church with a frame building, situated near the northwest corner of Section 36, Township 83, Range 27, and a Swedish Lutheran Church, situated near the northeast corner of Section 30, Township 83, Range 27. It will be seen from the above that there are four churches in the rural part of the township, which is more than any other township in the county has.
William Sparks was an early settler of the township and a Baptist minister. He took up a claim in the early settlement of the town- ship, made a good farm upon it and lived there the remainder of his life. He spent all of his spare time preaching in various parts of the county. He was a man much respected and it was mainly through his efforts that the Baptist Church was established in Marcy Township. Among his religious co-workers were Andrew Toliver, David Sparks, Joseph Staley, Barton Wire, Jesse Williams, Samuel Williams and others.
Those who worked for the upbuilding of the Methodist Episcopal Church were Elisha Bennett, Daniel Noland, James Stumbo, James Miller and John Williams and their families.
A large per cent of the settlers of the west part of Marcy Town- ship are Swedish people. They have made good farms, erected good buildings upon them and have nice homes. Their church is very well supported and is in a prosperous condition.
The Town of Ogden has extended its corporate limits so as to include a part of Section 6, in the northwest corner of Marcy Township.
There are thirteen schoolhouses and thirteen school districts, including that of Moingona. This shows that Marcy Township is well equipped for educational purposes. Among the educators may be mentioned John F. Curran, John L. Cunningham, Caroline and Emily Holloway, John Hand, M. T. Harlan, W. H. King, Ida McCall and Annette McCall, who have in the past done good educa- tional work. The present teachers are all doing good work in the public schools, which is highly appreciated.
The old Moingona line of the Northwestern Railroad runs across the northeast corner of the township, but the new line does not touch it. The Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad runs across the extreme
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northwest corner of the township and these are all the railroads within its borders.
In the early 'bos there was a postoffice at Quincy. But like all country postoffices it was a different matter to get a citizen to act as postmaster. After two or three years the postoffice at Quincy was discontinued. There has been a postoffice at Moingona from 1866 to the present time. This is the only postoffice in the township.
There is an incident known to some of the citizens of the south part of Marcy Township well worthy of mention here. A citizen of that part moved to the State of Arkansas, taking with him a very large dog, which he prized very highly. After he reached the end of the journey and had located he arose one morning and found that his dog was gone. This brought sorrow upon the family. Search and inquiry throughout the neighborhood were made but no tidings of the dog could be found. All hope of ever hearing of this much prized animal had passed from the owner and his family. But in about ten days a letter came from the former home in Marcy Town- ship, stating that the dog had returned, very tired, with very sore feet and much reduced in flesh. The date of his arrival given in the letter when compared with that of his departure proved that the dog was seven days making the 700 mile trip from Arkansas to his former home in Marcy Township. The dog must have traveled day and night, getting little nourishment along the route. Taking all of the circumstances in thought it was a wonderful trip for a dog to make.
In the number of her citizens who have been honored with county offices Marcy has no good reason to complain. W. H. C. Jenkins, Jesse Williams and Abel Carlson have each held the office of county supervisor two terms. Phillip Livingston has held the office of clerk of the District Court three terms. Harry Selby held the office of superintendent one term and G. W. Lloyd held the same office one term, and G. A. Holm held the office of county recorder two terms.
The first marriage in the township was that of William McCall and Sarah Rose. William McCall was a son of Montgomery McCall and a brother of Capt. S. B. McCall, the organizing sheriff of Boone County. The bride was a daughter of Col. John Rose, who has already been mentioned in this sketch. Mr. McCall died about a year ago but Mrs. McCall is still living.
The first death in Marcy Township was that of an Irishman, who died in the fall of 1849. He belonged to a party of surveyors
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